Over at Vulture, Josef Adalian dives deep into the whole Harmon/Community brouhaha, talking to folks from the show and the industry in general to really break down what happened, why, and what tomorrow will bring for the Greendale Seven. The entire piece is excellent and well worth reading! Included are some more specific details about Harmon's rough relationship with network suits:
In the beginning, sitcoms would almost always feature self-contained 22-minute stories, with there never being a consequence to what anyone did or said that would carry over to the next episode. Johnny slipped on a banana peel. And it was good. Eventually that would change: a character began to be able lose or get a job, and pick up a new love interest and maybe someday marry them, and the tired show would be able to sprout some more material. And that was good. Then the meteoric rise of The Sopranos begat the HBO model of airing shows that didn't have episodes, but installments of an epic story, making banana peels [...]
The Man who Makes Offers, Nick Offerman has been seen around town with bleached blonde hair and beard. When Entertainment Weekly asked him about it, he responded, “Although I am changing my look drastically for a couple of roles this summer, I really was just looking to have more fun.” More fun!? I always assumed Offerman's idea of fun was chopping down a tree with a dead cow but I guess he also likes beach balls and such. For fun, after the jump are some photos of Nick Offerman looking more like Nick Offerman:
Ken Levine is a TV writer that has worked on some of the most acclaimed sitcoms there are: M*A*S*H, Cheers, The Simpsons, Frasier, and Becker (just kidding about the last one). He took over as showrunner of M*A*S*H when creator Larry Gelbart left. This gives him a unique perspective on the whole Dan Harmon situation so he wrote a must-read blog post about it. He still has hope for the show as he writes:
Shows tend to survive without the original creative force. Even WEST WING when Aaron Sorkin was sacked. Even MASH when Larry Gelbart quit. MASH is a perfect example. If they could replace the genius [...]
Former Dana Carvey Show writer Charlie Kaufman, who has since written a lot of super awesome movies like Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is set to write and direct a HBO comedy that looks at "one day in a woman’s life and how the events leading up to it can affect, or not, the reality in which she lives." Frequent Kaufman collaborator Catherine Keener, who generally is really great, will play that woman. Considering this is Kaufman, there will probably also be some crazy high-concept twist like all the characters in the show live on a TV set inside the mind of a character named [...]
We’re still in the midst of a golden age of television. At least, I think the era of quality programming that began with The Sopranos is still going, right? If you look at the new comedies we’ve seen this past season, the answer to that question is a firm “maybe”; however, the TV season that gave us Work It, Rob, and I Hate My Teenage Daughter also gave us a few good sitcoms, as well. Join me as I dive deep into this past TV season’s most enjoyable comedies – from sitcoms to sketch shows to 11-minute animated thingies. Know that all of the shows on this list, except [...]
The Hollywood Reporter did a cover story on Conan O'Brien for their next issue and it appears that he's doing great. Conan's departure from the Tonight Show was one of the most talked about show business conflicts ever and it took a major toll on Conan; however, now two years later, Conan has found a perfect home at TBS and TBS has found their perfect face for the network. It took awhile to find an audience and get decent ratings, but for Conan and TBS it's about more than who watches when the episode first airs. Conan put it:
Wearing a blinged out (do kidz theze dayz still say that?) "#1 Dad" necklace, Tracy Morgan dropped by Conan to give President Obama tattoo advice, talk about having a threesome with O.J. Simpson and Kris Jenner, tickle Andy, and basically take over the show for ten minutes. Man, when he's on, Tracy is the best kind of crazy. In the clip below, at the end of the interview Conan C. Black asked, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Nothing's wrong – he's just Tracy.
New York Daily News reports that Jason Sudeikis told a group of people at the SNL finale after-after-party "he wasn't sure about staying or leaving." It also notes that Jason was taken aback a bit by the special treatment Kristen Wiig received at the end of the finale. He reportedly left the set during the credits, possibly out of frustration and possibly out of sadness. If you watched the finale it seemed completely certain that Wiig would be leaving and Andy Samberg as well, as the closing line of "Lazy Sunday 2" reflected; however, Jason was mostly missing from the episode. Since he plays both Romney and [...]
This week is a little bit dry in the chuckles department, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some hidden gems to watch and/or DVR! This week on late night we have: Stephen Wright, Kathy Griffin, Jerry Seinfeld, Tracy Morgan, Jim Gaffigan, and Bill Hader. We also have brand new episodes of Comedy Central’s The Hour Hour with Brendon Walsh and Nick Vatterott. We also have the season finales of Modern Family, The Middle, Don’t Trust The B- In Apartment 23, and the premiere of the new TBS sitcom Men At Work. Please check out the rest of the listings below and have a great week!
On May 29th, First Lady Michelle Obama is making her Second appearance on the Daily Show for an interview that will take up about a Third of the episode. Her previous appearance was during the 2008 campaign so now she'll be able to talk about the goings on of the White House. Though, apparently, she'll be focusing mostly on one part of the house, its garden. She will be promoting AMERICAN GROWN: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America, her book about growing vegetables and such at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe, she'll share the recipe to the President's favorite Kale and Kale Soup with Kale Chips [...]
Now that we’ve looked at some of the highlights from the past season of SNL, let’s talk about the cast. One thing that often fails to get mentioned is the comedic powerhouse we have in the current ensemble. Save for an occasional low-drama tweak (Paul Brittain was let go from the show in February; Kate McKinnon added in April), there has been relatively low turnover throughout the past few seasons — a sign that Lorne is pretty happy with the way things are going. As he should be! Not since Phil Hartman have we seen performers so clearly suited for sketch comedy the way Kristen Wiig and Bill [...]
Unpopular Opinions is a bi-weekly column in which a writer takes a stand against popular opinion, whether it's asserting the true merit of a supposedly guilty pleasure or dissenting against the universally lauded.
Earlier this year, after a hard-fought tournament, you decided that Community's "Remedial Chaos Theory" was the best sitcom episode ever. There is no way to say for sure with these things but maybe it's true; maybe when you zoom out completely, the dynamism and ambition of "Chaos" wins. However, in the context of this one season, I'd argue, and will argue for a bunch of words below, that "Chaos" loses out to another very ambitious [...]
Now that Season 37 of Saturday Night Live has come to a close, let’s talk about some of the highlights from the past 22 episodes.
What struck me most about this season was the apparent hunger for new hit sketches. While the show’s tendency to recycle worn sketch premises lives on, Seth Meyers and his writing staff have eased back a bit from tentpoling the lineup with pieces from seasons past, occasionally striking gold with a new premise, and hustling to bring it back as soon as possible. J Pop America Fun Time Now, Drunk Uncle, Lord Wyndemere, Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel, Piers Morgan Tonight, and The Californians [...]
